Análise de prescrições de antimicrobianos β-lactâmicos dispensados em uma farmácia comunitária da Zona Oeste de Natal/RN

Abstract

Antimicrobials are natural (antibiotics) or synthetic (chemotherapeutic) substances that play a very important role in the treatment of infections, extinguishing or inhibiting bacterial growth, without causing harm to the patient. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the prescriptions of β-lactam antimicrobials, in order to draw a profile of users of this class of drugs, as well as their usual prescribers, the most used pharmaceutical form, dosage and duration of treatment, as well as readability, aiming at the rational and safe use of these drugs. This is an exploratory, descriptive study with a qualitative and quantitative approach, through the analysis of β-lactam antimicrobial prescriptions retained in a community pharmacy. About 758 prescriptions were evaluated, of which 281 (37.07%) belonged to the β-lactam class. The results showed that the prevalent gender in users of these prescriptions was female (55.52%), where the majority adopted a monodrug (55.16%) although there were several classes of antimicrobials to which they belonged and, the average number of drugs per prescription was 1.3. Such drugs were referenced by the generic name, reaching a percentage of 80.78% whose predominant pharmaceutical form was the pill, used orally, which was present in 72.2% of the analyzed prescriptions. With regard to dosage, the dosage regimen was respected and the definition of the treatment period was absent in only 3.9% of these prescriptions. According to the class of β-lactams studied, the most prescribed drugs were Amoxicillin (35.23%), Amoxicillin + Potassium Clavulanate (32.74%) and Cephalexin (29.69%). With regard to the prescriber's specialty, Doctors without specialization attending Medical Residency and General Practitioner (31.32%), followed by Dental Surgeon (21.35%) and Pediatrician (14.59%) were observed. It can be concluded that the results are consistent with the standards established by the current health legislation that regulates the use of antimicrobials, with the need for strategies to improve the wording of these prescriptions, regarding the non-readability that still incur – 27%, making it difficult to dispense these drugs and their safe and rational use by the population.